Christopher
Nolan ("Memento"/"Insomnia") and co-writer David S.
Goyer, an expert on comic book lore, reinvent in the
$150 million Batman Begins a defining Batman from the
previous films, which failed to do the Batman comic
book character justice. None of the seven previous
Batman flicks made from the comic book story caught
the full flavor of the character and his obsessively
dark brooding nature. That includes the ridiculous
cartoonish 1966 spinoff from the TV serial starring
Adam West, Tim Burton's 1989 and 1992 versions going
after spectacular sets and special effects, to the two
Batman versions in 1995 and 1997 by Joel Schumacher
which fell into being a ludicrous campy venture.
Nolan's approach respectfully tunes into his hero's
psyche using the psychological tools derived from
Freud and Jung to establish what eggs him on, and
presents a more vulnerable and human figure. Nolan's
aided by Frank Miller's 1980's darker characterization
of Batman's revenge motives to be a crime fighter.
Miller, as the modern Batman updater, was able to
recover the original brooding and darkness of the
Bruce Wayne character that Batman creator Bob Kane
gave to his D.C. comic book hero in 1939, when Batman
was first introduced to the American public.

What
draws many Batman fans to their vigilante hero, is
that he's the only comic book superhero fighting
superpower villains without himself having superpower.
The filmmaker stresses his human qualities to give us
a bridge to understand why he's so obsessed with
fighting crime and getting revenge on the criminal
element who murdered his wealthy loving parents when
he was a child. The haunting incident, the defining
moment of his life, involves his parents leaving the
theater during an opera because of his fear when he
sees bats and then in an ensuing holdup in an alley
outside the theater they are murdered by a desperate
criminal with a bad case of the jitters. This
overwhelming sense of guilt and the anger that
overcomes him as a young man, blaming his fear of bats
on his parents death, some 14 years after that
incident, is where the tale begins.

We see
a strangely driven scraggly bearded Bruce Wayne
(Christian Bale) in an Asian jail in his attempt to
research the criminal mind and in a pent up rage
attacking his fellow prisoners with an overwhelming
force. In jail, Bruce's approached by the mysterious
Ducard (Liam Neeson)--second in command to a
clandestine criminal brotherhood called the League of
Shadows, led by Ra's Al Ghul (Ken Watanabe)--and asked
to join the secret organization. Soon the League
trains Bruce in Ninja-like fighting skills to join
their criminal fraternity. But, after mastering their
fighting methods, Bruce refuses to join them because
he doesn't believe in their executioner-like sense of
justice. Returning, after seven years and being
declared legally dead, to a crime-ridden and corrupt
Gotham City, he reunites with the kindly family
servant Alfred (Michael Caine) who acts as a surrogate
father and helps the youngster reinvent himself as
Batman and live in a secret bat cave on the residence.
Posing as a carefree playboy, Bruce returns to the
business empire started by his father and toys with
the ambitious malevolent CEO Mr. Earle (Rutger Hauer)
by not letting him know that he's onto his secretive
not too kosher business deals. Teaming with the firm's
head of the science-gadget department, Lucius Fox
(Morgan Freeman), Bruce is presented with his
Batmobile and material for his costume. Bruce then
goes after the town baddie, Mafia crime boss Falcone
(Tom Wilkinson), who controls the city through
intimidation and bribes. Working with the Mafia boss
is the creepy Dr. Jonathan Crane (Cillian Murphy), a
perverse psychiatrist who shows he could be even a
more dangerous foe than the crime boss. As Bruce tries
to get the kinks out of his new costume and do his
cape thing on building walls without getting a wedgie,
he also looks out for his would-be girlfriend Rachel
(Katie Holmes). She's an Assistant DA who can't be
bribed by Falcone, which puts her in danger. Batman
then gets the confidence of the only honest cop in the
town, the gruff Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman), who helps
him evade the other corrupt officers--who have orders
to arrest him. There's no Joker villain around, he
comes next after Batman takes care of all these
unpleasant baddies. The supporting cast was
exceptional, providing either the comedy or human
warmth needed that couldn't be provided by Bale
without ruining his dark characterization. The only
one who seemed stiff and out of place was Holmes, who
had the look of someone who didn't want to be spotted
in Gotham City.

Batman
Begins does what none of the other films did: tell the
true psychological story of how the edgy lead
character was driven to overcome his fear of bats and
grow into the American pop-culture legend. It's told
as a dramatic and not as a comic book story, which
allows the story to have a real emotional impact.
Being a lavish summer blockbuster action film it can't
rid itself completely of the usual faults of these
type of films, as it comes to a mindless action-packed
conclusion that unnecessarily lengthens the film with
its uninspiring conventional bang-bang sequences,
silly dazzle and obligatory video game special
effects. But that is not enough of a detriment to ruin
this intelligently made film; one of the better comic
book stories ever put to film.

The
Batman franchise came to a screeching halt after the
dismal Batman and Robin venture, but Christian Bale
now bales it out as he takes over the role and gives
it a new life with his more cerebral, serious and
realistic presentation of the Caped Crusader figure.
Bale was last seen in The Machinist, where he lost 63
pounds and looked emaciated. For this film he has
regained his normal weight, and combines both the
physical and mental skills to convince he's the
slightly loony aristocratic rich boy who has some
serious issues to deal with but is, nevertheless,
fighting the good fight.